5.3 Procedure

The MHDCD Dataset was established using a confirmed cohort of interest compiled into a relational database using MS SQL server 2008. Data were drawn from Police, Corrections, Justice Health, Courts, Juvenile Justice, Legal Aid, Disability, Housing, Health and Community Services on each individual from as far back as each agency’s electronic records allow (generally from around the mid 1980s) up to the date of data extraction between 2008 and 2012. The data comprising the cohort were gathered at different times over a number of years from the various data sources. We used 30th April 2008 as the census date in order to calculate age groups consistently. These data were linked to allow detailed description and analysis of the pathways by which people with diagnoses of mental health disorders and cognitive disability enter, move through, exit and return to the criminal justice system and an understanding of the interactions between the justice and human service agencies affecting them (Baldry et al. 2013).